The Iola register., 1887-02-11
DIR. TALMAGE.
sPilors OF Smoke" the Subject Of
His Last Sermon.
An Indication OF the Suffering and Perss-
eution the Church OF God Has Endured
"A symbol Of Its Beauty and
Ultimate Triumph.

the sixth verse of tho third chapter Of
Solomon's Song: "Who is this that
cometh out of the wilderness like pillars
Of smoker He spoke as follows:
The architecture OF the smoke ID WON
Grous, whether God with His finger curls
it into cloud, or rounds it into dome, or
points il into q spire, or spreads it in
wing, or, as in the text, hoists it into
pillar. Watch it winding up from tho
country farmhouse in the early morning,
showing that the pastoral industries have
begun, or see it ascending from the CHM
neys of the city, telling os the homes fed.
the factories turning out valuable fabrics,
the printing presses preparing book and
newspaper. and all the ten thousand wheels
in motion. On q clear day this vapor
spoken Of mounts with such buoyancy, and
spreads such delicate vail across the
sky, and traces such graceful lines OF
circle and semi-circie, and waves. and
tosses, and sinks, and scars, and scatters,
with such af,iuence of shape and color and
sucgestiveness that if you have never
noticed it you are like a man who has all
his life lived in Paris and yet never seen
the Luxembourg, and all his life in Rome
and never seen the Vatican. and all his
life at Lockport and never seen Niagara
Forty -four times the Bible speaks of the
smoke and it is about time some body
breaches a sermon recognizing this strange,
weird, beautiful. elastic, charming. terrific
and fascinating vapor. Across the Bible
Sky floats the smoke of Sinai, the smoke OF
Sodom, the smoke of Al, the smoke Of the
pit, the smoke of the volcanic hills when
Gcd touches theIa- and in my text the gio-
rious church of God coming out OF the wll-
derness like pillars of smoke.
In the first place these pillars of smoke
in nv text indicate the suffering the
church of God kas endured. What do
mean by the church. Imean not build
ing. not sect, but those who in all ages
and all lands, ard Of al. beliefs, love God
and are trying TO do right For many
centuries the heavens have been black
with the smoke of Inartyrdom. If set SIDE
b. side You could girdle the earth with the
fires of persecution, Rowland Taylor
burned at Hadleigh; Latimer burned at
Oxford; JOAN Rogers burned at Smthtield !;
John Hooper burned at Gloucester, John
Huss burned at Constance; Lawrence
Saunders barnei at Coventry; Joan Of Arc
burned a; Rouen.
Protestaats have sometimes pointed to
Catholics as prosecutors, but both Protest
ant and Catholic have practiced infamous
crueltIes- The Catholics, during the reign
Of Hunreric, were by Protcstants put to
the worst 1ortures. stripped of their CLOTH
ing. hoisted in the air by pulleys with
weights suspended from their feet: then
let dowH- and ears and eyes. nose and tongue
were anputated. and red hot plates of iron
We're put against the tenderest parts Of
their bodies.
George Bancroft. the historian, says of
the Sta,e OF Maryland: in the land
which Catholics had opened &c Prdtestants
mass might not be said publicly 10 Catho-
lie priest or bishop might utter his faith in
q voice of persuasion; no Catholic might
teach the young. II the w2yuard child OF
Paplst would but become an apostate tho
law wrested for him from his parents a
share of their property. Such were the
methods adopted to prevent the growth Of
Popery.r'
Speaking of ireland, the same historian
saws: Such priests as were permitted TO
reside in Ireland Were required to be reg
iste-ed and were kept like prisoners at
large within prescribed limits. All Papists
exercising ecclesiastical Jurisdiction, all
monks, friars and regular priests not then
actually il parishes and to be registered.
were bInished from Ireland under pain of
transportation, and, on return, of being
hanged, drawn and quartereG-
Catholicism as well a. Professionalism had
its martyrs. 1t does seem as If when any
one se,t got complete deminancy in any
land the devil of persecution and cruelty
took possession of that sect Then see the
Catholics after the Huguenots. See the
Gentiles after the Jews IL Touraine. where
"a great PIT was dug and fire lighted at the
bottom of the pit. and one hundred and
= ,,s,1
the Presbyterian parliament of EnglanI,
more tyrannical in their treatment of op-
ponents than hal been the criminal
courts; persecution against the Bap-
fists a2y Peio-B Baptists: persecution
OF the Established Church against
the Methodist Church; persecution
against the Quakers; persecution against
the Presbyterians. Under Emperor Dio-
cletlan iA,0Oo Christians we're massacred,
snd 1O090 more of them died from bauisll-
ment ana exposure. WitGess the sufferings
OF the Ealdenses, of the Albigenses, of
the historians; witness St Bartholomew 5
massacre. witness the Duke of Alva
driving eut of life 5000 Christians, wit
ness Herod, and Nero. and Decius, and
Hildebrard, and TorqueMada, and Earl of
Montfort. and Lord Ciaverhouse, vho,
when told that he must give account
for his cruelties, said: Il have no need 10
account te man. and as for Sod, will take
Him in my own hands"
a red line runs through the church hs-
tory of nineteen hundred years-a line ef
blood. Na by the hundreds of thousands, $,
but by the millions must We count those
slain for Cnrist's sake. No wonder John
Milton put ihe groans Of the martyrs TO an
immortal tune, writing:
.. Avenge, o Lord, Thy slaughtered saints
whose homes
Lie scatterei. on the Alpine q orrtains cold. -
The smoke of martyrs homes ana mar
tyrs' bodies if rolling up AL at once,
would have eclipscd the noorday sun and
turned the brightest day the world ever
saw into midnight Who is this
that cometh UP. out of the wilderness like
pillars of smoker
Has persecution ceasedt AK .nat man,
x9ho is trying te be Christian, in a store
or factory, where from morning 20 night
he is the butt OF all the mean witticisms of
unbeheving employees Ask thgt wife.
whose husband Uiakes her fondness for the
topse of God and even her kneeling prayer
by ehe bedside derision, and is ne more
fit Ger her holy con panionship than filthy
cror would be a fl companion for a robin
or golden Oriole- Compromise wfts the
world and surrender to its conyention ali
ties and it may let you alone. but all who
will LIE Cody in Jesus Christ must suffer
persecution. Be theater-goin card
playing wine-drinEing, round-daneng g
Christiai- and you Gay escape criticism
and social pressure: but be an up-anS-
down and out-and-opt follower Of Christ,
and worleling will wiEx to worldling as he
speaks !aar name, and you will be put IL
many a deggerel and snxbbed By those no.
worthy to black your Oldest shoes.
When the bridge at AsAtabula broke and
let down most of the carload of passengers
to instant death Mr.. p. p Bliss was
eoafad IN osse sid, of the aisle nf thu 1.n,.